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Great Lakes Cheese

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Plymouth - 3 Years - Anonymous employee Great Lakes Cheese Employee Review

1.0
Sep 26, 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Weekly Pay Fairly Competitive Pay

Cons

Recently had a tornado touch down in area, and were advised to continue working through this instead of taking the necessary precautions in place to ensure employee safety. We were simply advised to not go outside until after 5pm. The culture here from the top down is focused on loyalty and tenure so much so that they are unaware (or don't care) that they are losing new hires at a rapid pace. Vacation allowance when you are a new is terrible, with you only allowed to take up to 5 UNPAID days during your first year, then after a year of service you receive 8 days with your next increase not until after 3 years. You are not even acknowledged with anniversary announcements until 5 years. This attitude is prevalent in its employees as senior employees typically treat new hires like garbage simply because they are new. Recently we've had issues with even receiving cheese into the plant. Not just a short order but many of our cheeses we need to complete everyday orders were not coming in. Nothing was officially communicated to employees from corporate about what caused this issue, or what the plan was to resolve it. We heard some communication from plant management or supervisors but only when asked. Due to not receiving this cheese, we were forced to use other means to meet the demand causing labor shortages and FORCED overtime. Later the issue was advised to have been a new system installed by a trucking company that either delivers our cheese or something along those lines. This may not even have been the reason, but we will never know for sure simply because corporate failed to communicate anything to us. We hear from corporate once per year, similarly to Santa Claus. Every year it's pumped into our heads how much our ESOP (employer controlled 401k) is great and competitive, that being employee owned means we are all owners yet when suggestions or questions arise we are told to "focus on what you can control". Oh also for new hires the ESOP is not effective until you've been here a FULL year. No proration, no nothing. That means if you start January 15th, you'll be contributing to the success of ESOP much longer than lets say someone starting December will be. It was recently shared during that yearly corporate meeting from Santa Clauses that they rely heavily on employee referrals. We get nothing for referring people here monetarily, or morally. I can't imagine telling people to come work here when I see the unfairness and general lack of knowledge of what it takes to get people in AND retain them.

Explore other reviews about Great Lakes Cheese

5.0
Mar 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good cheese was very helpful

Cons

Nothing bad about being here

2.0
Feb 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

High Pay for the area Decidedly Decent PTO amount Quick and Decent Raised

Cons

No lunch breaks Management feels like proctology HR lies to your face while smiling Watched a coworker get pointed for having to leave due to procedures/regulations for puking

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